1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to swimming starting platforms and more particularly pertains to a new competitive swimming starting system for producing faster starts of competitive swimmers after the start of the race has been signaled.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of starting platforms is known for supporting participants prior to the start of a swimming race. Conventionally, the swimming race is initiated by producing a sound, such as, for example, the firing of a starting gun or the sounding of a starting tone, that is recognized by the participants of the race as the signal to jump into the pool (if not already in the pool) and to begin swimming. Understandably, a measure of delay is introduced into the start by the time that is required for the sound to be issued from the sound source (such as the starting gun or a speaker) to the ears of the participants, while the timing devices recording times for the swimmers has begun at the time the sound was issued. Depending upon the positioning of the sound source, none of the participants is given a significant advantage in the race with respect to each other. However, the recorded times for each of the participants may be affected due to the fact that the timing devices start at the time of the issuance of the sound from the sound source while the participants must “wait” for the sounds waves to reach each of them to begin the race. A small, but appreciable, amount of time is added to the individual times of the participants in a sport where times may be measured in the hundredths of seconds. Further, if the sound source is located significantly closer to some participants than other participants, the closer participants may be given a slight advantage in starting the race.
Due to the highly competitiveness of the sport in which rankings and records are typically based on race completion times, it is therefore desirable to employ a starting system that is able to produce faster starts for competitive swimmers after the start of the race has been signaled.